Diary of a pious slob

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Diary of a pious slob is a fictional diary of the Christian writer Adrian Plass . It appeared as his first work in 1990 and describes evangelical community and private life in a satirical and self-critical manner. It achieved cult status among the Christian readership.

content

In the form of a diary, Adrian, who claims to be “pious chaot”, tells of his everyday life in family, community and work. He lives with his wife Anne and son Gerald in an unnamed city, works in an undefined office and gets through his everyday life, where he experiences faux pas, doubts and encouragement. He describes himself as phlegmatic, overzealous and clumsy. So he tries to move a paper clip through his faith, runs full of euphoria to evangelistic top form, neglecting his family, has to grapple with runaway rabbits and feminist nieces and support his alcoholic friend.

His son Gerald always has a cool saying ready and often meets with outrage in the community, which doesn't bother him in the least. He likes to target the mistakes of the community troops and in doing so exposes some hypocrisy. Otherwise he takes life easy and everything seems to work out well, which Adrian sometimes makes jealous of him. His passion is working out anagrams . He and his friends found the Christian rock band “Bad News for the Devil” and play lead guitar there.

Most of the reports have to do with Adrian's (unspecified) Evangelical Church and its members. These are by no means portrayed as infallible pious people, but as people with mistakes and problems. The Flushpool couple, for example, are rather closed, but also “strictly biblical” parishioners who seem to experience no joy or even fun. Victoria in particular feels superior to the others, while Stenneth bows to her dominance. The church elder Edwin, on the other hand, is a sensitive and understanding friend who encourages Adrian from time to time.

Other issues include father-son relationships, problems with colleagues, fear of death, self-disclosure, and failure.

meaning

An important intention of the author is to look behind people's facades. The figures are prototypes for the different people that exist in such a community. The hypocrisy of some Christians is exposed. The Christian website www.livenet.ch writes: “After initially harsh criticism, his British humor turned out to be a unique style of lovingly holding a mirror up to Christian quirks. He is now one of the most popular Christian authors of today, and his books enjoy almost cult status ” . His readers appreciate his disarming honesty, the open handling of his own inadequacies and his loving consideration.

Sequels

  • Leonard Thynn's theatrical tapes (1993) - the congregation should stage a play.
  • Andromeda's Letters (1994) - Andromeda lies in bed with her feet in a cast and writes letters of insane content to all sorts of people
  • The restless journeys of the pious chaotic (1997) - Adrian's diary from his travels as a Christian speaker
  • The tour diary of the pious chaotic (2003) - even more diary of Adrian's travels as a Christian speaker
  • The Pious Chaot on Community Leisure Time (2013)

literature

Plass, Adrian: Diary of a pious slob . Brendow, 1990, ISBN 3-87067-391-5 .